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Cliff Janeway is back! The Bookman's Promise marks the eagerly awaited return of Denver bookman-author John Dunning and the award-winning crime novel series that helped to turn the nation on to first-edition book collecting.
First, it was Booked to Die, then The Bookman's Wake. Now John Dunning fans, old and new, will rejoice in The Bookman's Promise, a richly nuanced new Janeway novel that juxtaposes past and present as Denver ex-cop and bookman Cliff Janeway searches for a book and a killer.
The quest begins when an old woman, Josephine Gallant, learns that Janeway has recently bought at auction a signed first edition by the legendary nineteenth-century explorer Richard Francis Burton. The book is a true classic, telling of Burton's journey (disguised as a Muslim) to the forbidden holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Boston auction house was a distinguished and trustworthy firm, but provenance is sometimes murky and Josephine says the book is rightfully hers.
She believes that her grandfather, who was living in Baltimore more than eighty years ago, had a fabulous collection of Burton material, including a handwritten journal allegedly detailing Burton's undercover trip deep into the troubled American South in 1860. Josephine remembers the books from her childhood, but everything mysteriously disappeared shortly after her grandfather's death.
With little time left in her own life, Josephine begs for Janeway's promise: he must find her grandfather's collection. It's a virtually impossible task, Janeway suspects, as the books will no doubt have been sold and separated over the years, but how can he say no to a dying woman?
It seems that her grandfather, Charlie Warren, traveled south with Burton in the spring of 1860, just before the Civil War began. Was Burton a spy for Britain? What happened during the three months in Burton's travels for which there are no records? How did Charlie acquire his unique collection of Burton books? What will the journal, if it exists, reveal?
When a friend is murdered, possibly because of a Burton book, Janeway knows he must find the answers. Someone today is willing to kill to keep the secrets of the past, and Janeway's search will lead him east: To Baltimore, to a Pulitzer Prize-winning author with a very stuffed shirt, and to a pair of unorthodox booksellers. It reaches a fiery conclusion at Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
What's more, a young lawyer, Erin d'Angelo, and ex-librarian Koko Bujak, have their own reasons for wanting to find the journal. But can Janeway trust them?
Rich with the insider's information on rare and collectible books that has made John Dunning famous, and with meticulously researched detail about a mesmerizing figure who may have played an unrecognized role in our Civil War, The Bookman's Promise is riveting entertainment from an extraordinarily gifted author who is as unique and special as the books he so clearly loves.
From Publishers Weekly
In Nero Wolfe Award winner Dunning's third literate entry in his Cliff Janeway series (after Booked to Die and The Bookman's Wake), 90-ish Josephine Gallant persuades the former Denver cop turned antiquarian bookseller to try to recover a rare collection of the works of Richard Burton, "the explorer, not the actor," that once belonged to her grandfather, a faithful traveling companion of Burton. Eager to fulfill his pledge to Ms. Gallant, who expires soon after their meeting, Janeway begins an investigation that takes him to a seedy used bookshop and other strange haunts in Baltimore, where he runs into a shady writer and a gang of thugs who are obviously looking for the same literary treasures. Midway through the often rambling narrative, a flashback to 1860 steps up the pace when Burton undertakes a possible espionage mission to the South for the British prime minister and encounters Captain Abner Doubleday, who solicits his advice on the defense of Fort Sumter. Two well-intentioned women join Janeway for the final search through historic Charleston, with the inevitable romantic interludes. Too many extraneous characters and some tedious dialogue slow the action, but the book-collecting background is sure to appeal to a wide range of mystery readers.
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。
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1 人中、1人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
形式:マスマーケット
19世紀の探検家バートンの書いた本を巡るミステリー。
タイトルからは小難しい内容が想像されるが、バイオレンスあり、ロマンスあり、そしてやや予測可能な最後のどんでん返し、とミステリーの王道を行く。そうでありながら、バートンに関する文献調査や時代考証はしっかりしており、無理がない。分かりやすい英語で書かれており読みやすい。
お薦めの一冊である。
タイトルからは小難しい内容が想像されるが、バイオレンスあり、ロマンスあり、そしてやや予測可能な最後のどんでん返し、とミステリーの王道を行く。そうでありながら、バートンに関する文献調査や時代考証はしっかりしており、無理がない。分かりやすい英語で書かれており読みやすい。
お薦めの一冊である。
形式:マスマーケット
クリスティで育った私には英語の雑さに大ショック、さらに飛び交うバイオレンスにびっくり、という感じだったのですが、意外にセンチメンタルで繊細でロマンティックなシーンもあり、古本屋で元刑事という2つの異なる性質を持った主人公をそのまま表している本なのかなと思いました。ハードボイルド風の雰囲気を漂わせながらも登場人物が結構みんないい人だしお互いを思い合っていて、その点格好良さは減ってる気がしますが後味は悪くありません。
バートンとチャーリーの旅行ではアメリカの歴史や町の様子が垣間見え、その点でも興味深かったです。
バートンとチャーリーの旅行ではアメリカの歴史や町の様子が垣間見え、その点でも興味深かったです。
Amazon.com で最も参考になったカスタマーレビュー (beta)
Amazon.com:
64件のカスタマーレビュー
24 人中、22人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
Cliff Janeway returns!
2004/9/20
形式:ハードカバー
Leave it to John Dunning to remind modern readers that there was more than just one Richard Burton...not just the 20th century award-winning thespian (and husband to Liz Taylor), but also a fascinating, 19th century explorer, knighted by the British for his anthropological discoveries, his books, and his work as a linguist as he traveled the globe. Dunning weaves flashbacks of Burton's tour of the American south just before the Civil War into his modern-day tale about a hero we've been waiting to see again, rare bookseller and ex-policeman Cliff Janeway.
Janeway, as you may or may not recall, is the centerpiece of two of Dunning's earlier works, which established a mini-cult for readers, proving, once and for all, that there is nothing booklovers love more than reading about books. It has been eight years since Dunning followed the success of Booked To Die, Janeway's first outing, with The Bookman's Wake. Mystery readers around the globe waited somewhat impatiently for Dunning's alter-ego (he, too, sold rare books) to reappear. The wait was worth it.
In The Bookman's Promise, Janeway has purchased a first edition of Sir Richard Burton's, and the rare book leads him on a quest to find a missing collection of Burton's works, and, it's hoped for, a never-published journal about his travels in America with the relative of the woman who claims the books were stolen from her family. Dunning weaves slices of today's quest with exerpts from the old journal, as the men, separated by time and reason, travel the same paths in the American southeast.
Along the way, Janeway gets involved in the struggle between powerful families, suffers the death of a friend, and begins a love affair. With the exception of traveling companions Erin, and Koko - both of whom are somewhat mediocre characters, Dunning populates Janeway's quest not only with fascinating places and glimpses into the past, but with well-drawn supporting characters.
The Bookman's Promise educates as well as entertains, and was well worth the wait!
Janeway, as you may or may not recall, is the centerpiece of two of Dunning's earlier works, which established a mini-cult for readers, proving, once and for all, that there is nothing booklovers love more than reading about books. It has been eight years since Dunning followed the success of Booked To Die, Janeway's first outing, with The Bookman's Wake. Mystery readers around the globe waited somewhat impatiently for Dunning's alter-ego (he, too, sold rare books) to reappear. The wait was worth it.
In The Bookman's Promise, Janeway has purchased a first edition of Sir Richard Burton's, and the rare book leads him on a quest to find a missing collection of Burton's works, and, it's hoped for, a never-published journal about his travels in America with the relative of the woman who claims the books were stolen from her family. Dunning weaves slices of today's quest with exerpts from the old journal, as the men, separated by time and reason, travel the same paths in the American southeast.
Along the way, Janeway gets involved in the struggle between powerful families, suffers the death of a friend, and begins a love affair. With the exception of traveling companions Erin, and Koko - both of whom are somewhat mediocre characters, Dunning populates Janeway's quest not only with fascinating places and glimpses into the past, but with well-drawn supporting characters.
The Bookman's Promise educates as well as entertains, and was well worth the wait!
27 人中、24人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
FINNALLY, ANOTHER "CLIFF JANEWAY" NOVEL!!!
2004/3/28
形式:ハードカバー
It's been almost a decade since the last "Cliff Janeway" novel by John Dunning, but the wait was well worth it. Mr. Dunning's newest book, THE BOOKMAN'S PROMISE, brings back our ex-Denver homicide detective/book dealer in rare form as he seeks to find the murderer of a new friend and information concerning Sir Richard Burton's (legendary Nineteenth Century explorer and author) trip to the United States just before the start of the Civil War. It all begins when Janeway purchases a rare book by Richard Burton in pristine condition and inscribed by Burton to someone named Charlie Warren at an auction. Within weeks, an elderly woman appears at Janeway's bookstore, claiming to be the granddaughter of Charlie Warren and asking Janeway to help her find the missing library of Burton books that were stolen from her family after her grandfather died. As proof of her claim, she presents Janeway with another book by Burton, also in pristine condition and inscribed to her grandfather. This leads Janeway to a book dealer in Baltimore and a dangerous thug who's more than willing to kill in order to stop Janeway in his search. Janeway then heads to Charleston, South Carolina where Richard Burton and Charlie Warren spent several days, supposedly causing the start of the War Between the States. What will Janeway discover and how many people will have to die because of something that happened over 150 years ago? As in the previous two "Janeway" novels (BOOKED TO DIE and THE BOOKMAN'S WAKE), Mr. Dunning creates a marvelous mystery filled with strong character development, suspense, and bare-knuckles action, while at the same time delving into the intriguing world of rare books and what makes one book more valuable than another. Any "Janeway" novel is certainly a special treat for lovers of well-written mysteries and the world of antique books. John Dunning definitely knows his subject matter and manages to make it quite vivid and entertaining. I can't highly recommend this novel enough, or the two previous ones in the series. I sincerely hope Mr. Dunning won't wait as long before presenting his growing legion of fans with his next "Janeway" novel.
6 人中、6人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
Janeway is BACK
2008/3/27
形式:マスマーケット|Amazonが確認した購入
It took 12 years, but the bookman we came to know and love in "Booked to Die" (1992) is finally back. After a less-enjoyable-than-hoped for encore in 1995, this time Dunning's plot works much more effectively and he's got tough-guy bookman Cliff Janeway on track again. For the most part, the pace is fast and furious, and just as in the original novel filled with fascinating minutia about the business - or should I say passion - of collecting rare books. For some, these side trips into the world of rare books might be offputting, but to me they are the frosting on the cake and I don't mind them at all. That said, there are a few false steps here; a hoodlum whose connection to and interest in a down-at-the-heels bookseller is hard to swallow, and an extended flashback to the days leading up to the beginning of the Civil War that puts the central plot on hold for several chapters. Yet even this is enjoyable as Dunning introduces us to the long dead subject of Janeway's search, author and historian Richard Burton. I can see the dilemma facing an author setting out to write this novel. How many different ways can you evolve a plot from the search for a book, the disappearance of a book? Not all that many, I think, and thanks to that, Dunning has thrown everything into this one, including a piece of advice that might actually have been responsible for starting the Civil War.
Art Tirrell is the author of 2007's surprise hit, "The Secret Ever Keeps"
"Simply put...the best underwater scenes I've ever read."
Art Tirrell is the author of 2007's surprise hit, "The Secret Ever Keeps"
"Simply put...the best underwater scenes I've ever read."
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